Candide Essay | Cultivating Society

Cultivating Society

Summary: Voltaire's Candide is a satire of the many problems which he believed plagued the society in which he lives.

Voltaire's Candide is an attack on several social issues which concerned many of the enlightened thinkers. But unlike others, Voltaire tended to concentrate on the effects of class structure, religious intolerance, and philosophic inactivity, all of which he believed held back the progression of society. Throughout Candide's adventures, his innocence and belief in the "perfect world" is tested. The separation of classes and religious intolerance which he confronts make Candide question the teachings of his mentor Pangloss, who although is an intelligent man, falls under Voltaire's criticism of inactivity. The horrible conditions which Candide suffered shaped his view on the world in which he lived and brought about the last quote of the book: "we must cultivate our gardens"--Voltaire, Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories, (NY: Penguin, 1981), 101. Voltaire sums up his belief in active philosophy and the importance of education, the necessity to...